Reversal of Light and Darkness
by FE96jAFFAR
Summary: When Destiny Islands fell to darkness, it was Riku who sank into the darkness and Sora who received the Keyblade. What would happen if things hadn't turned out quite the same way...?
1. Stormy Beginnings

This is my first attempt at a story. I'm a big Kingdom Hearts fan, so I decided that I would try my hand at writing a story when this idea popped into my head. I hope you guys like it!

Please leave a review, whether or not you liked it or not! That helps tell me what I need to change or do better.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I have no part in that ownership.

* * *

A small wooden boat made its way through the raging waves, barely keeping its course. Relentlessly rowing, a young, spiky-haired brunette sat soaked inside of it.

_I won't let our raft be destroyed,_ Sora swore to himself.

They had built the raft themselves - he and his friends, Riku and Kairi.

Suddenly, his steady rowing faltered as a thought hit him. Riku and Kairi were both just as invested in the raft as he was, the former especially. If he was heading out to the island, then they probably were too.

And he was wary enough of heading out himself, in a storm this bad.

He began to pull up to the island.

_Please don't let them be out here..._

The rowboat bumped up against the docks, and Sora quickly stumbled out of his boat. Hurriedly tying his boat to a post, he saw two familiar boats already present.

"Kairi's boat... And Riku's!" He had expected to see them, but was still horrified to know that his friends were somewhere out in the storm. Wildly looking around, he tried to find them through the sheet of rain that blurred his vision.

He saw nothing except the waves and trees being pushed around by the wind, but in his desperation, he could've sworn that the shadows were moving, changing shape and shifting about of their own volition.

Sora sprinted across the wooden docks towards the island, just barely keeping his feet from slipping on the soaked boards.

Something moved below him.

He stumbled backwards on instinct, and whatever thing that had moved slashed upwards. Sora's abrupt halt saved him from a more serious injury, but the attack still managed to draw a small line of blood along his cheek.

Giving a short cry of pain, the boy scrambled backwards. Eyes wide in shock, he stared at the creature that had attacked him.

The monster was pitch black, with three sharp claws on each arm. It barely reached Sora's knees in height. Two short antennae protruded from the creature's head, were twin glowing yellow eyes stared directly at Sora.

Without warning, the shadowy creature lunged at Sora again.

"Gah!" The spiky-haired boy threw himself to the side, barely escaping another wound. The monster landed where Sora had been, but it seemed confused. Turning its head from side to side, it didn't seem to notice its victim lying just behind it.

For a second, Sora sat there stunned. He couldn't believe that the creature had so easily lost track of him. Quickly - before the small monster turned its head far enough around to notice - Sora clambered to his feet and dashed away, heading once again towards the island.

Running full-tilt along the dirt paths, Sora continuously looked around for his friends, hoping against hope to find them before the storm took them...

...or the monsters got to them.

The thought made him shiver, and Sora tried even harder to find either of his friends through the curtain of water that was crashing down around him.

_Wait, is that...?_

"Riku!"

As he cried out, Sora sprinted towards the figure he had seen. Pushing himself as hard as he could, Sora quickly skidded to a stop near the other boy.

"Riku, you're okay!" The brunette cried out, relief flooding him. Before the other boy could so much as turn around, Sora noticed something he had missed in his joy at having found his friend.

"Wait... Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!"

"The door has opened..." Sora blinked.

"What?"

"The door has opened, Sora!" Riku turned to face the brunette. "Now we can go to the outside world!"

Sora unconsciously took a step back. The expression on Riku's face was too eager, too desperate.

"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!" Sora pleaded with his friend, but to no avail. Crazed grin forming on his face, the silver-haired boy replied.

"Kairi's coming with us!" He continued, voice starting soft but rising in excitement. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We might never see our parents again... There's no turning back." Riku seemed to hesitate for a moment, but kept talking. "But this may be our only chance! We can't let fear stop us!"

Sora stared in disbelief. What was Riku saying? Abandon their homes? Abandon their world?

Anger rose up in his chest, but the other boy wasn't done yet.

Almost as a challenge, Riku raised his head to the sky and yelled, "I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Sora followed the other boy's gaze, and gaped, all of his anger draining away. A massive sphere of darkness hung in the sky, crackling with violet bolts of electricity. Trees, planks of wood, and even chunks of the earth itself were being torn up and sucked into it.

Returning his gaze to Riku, he opened his mouth to speak only to once again be shocked.

Shadows were rising up out of the ground, tendrils of inky black that were swirling about Sora's friend.

"Riku!" Sora shouted in alarm. He dashed forward, intent on helping Riku.

An identical darkness rose to ensnare Sora. It grasped at him, slowing his feet and bringing him to a halt-

But Sora broke through it.

"Riku!" He yelled again, and grabbed his friend by the wrist. As he did, the shadows managed to catch Sora and envelop him just as they were doing to Riku.

"What...? Sora, what are you doing?" Riku's smile faded, and he instead looked confused.

Sora didn't know what the darkness was or what it was going to do, but his instincts were screaming that nothing good would come of letting Riku go.

"Saving... you!" Sora gasped out, and he gave a massive heave. Riku was tossed away from the shadows, falling to the ground off to the side. The darkness, having lost one of its victims, thickened around Sora and began to drag him down into the earth.

As he was pulled down and his vision began to darken, Sora stared straight at Riku. His friend was still laying on the ground where he had landed, staring at Sora's disappearing form in shock.

"C'mon, Riku," he managed to say, "I thought you were the strong one... Make sure... Kairi's... ok..."

With that, Sora's gaze finally turned black, and he fell into the darkness.

* * *

Riku stared in shock at where Sora had just been.

"What...?"

He couldn't understand. One second he had been ready to go to the outside world, and the next...

The next he was watching Sora be taken away by the very darkness he'd been about to give in to.

And Sora's last words...

_"I thought you were the strong one..."_

Sora was right, the silver-haired boy realized. Riku had been weak; ready to give in, ready to abandon everything... Even Sora and Kairi. He'd had no guarantee that they would be safe - no guarantee that HE would be safe by letting the darkness take any of them._  
_

As if summoned by his thoughts, the shadows once again coalesced into tendrils of darkness that reached up for him. Gritting his teeth, Riku fought against its grasp. He wasn't going to give in - not this time. Sora... Sora had entrusted him with a task - one the other boy couldn't do because he had thrown himself into the darkness to save Riku.

_"Make sure... Kairi's... ok..."_

Snarling, he pulled even harder against the shadows that were dragging him downward. No matter how hard he struggled, though, the darkness was winning. It claimed his legs... his torso... his head... Only his arm remained above the ground, and it too was being dragged into the darkness, as he blindly grasped from something, anything to keep him from sinking into the darkness that had claimed Sora...

**"Keyblade... Keyblade..."**

Riku's sight turned from pure black to bright, blinding light.

Suddenly, Riku fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air. As he did, he noticed a strange object being grasped in his hand - the very hand that had been so desperately reaching upwards.

Shifting, Riku brought his hands up to look at the object.

It was... a key?

Or at least something that greatly resembled one.

His hand was clasped around its handle, with a rectangular golden frame surrounding where he held it. A long, silver rod extended out of one end, with a crown-shaped piece attached near the end. Dangling from the other end of the handle was a chain, with a small silver pendant swaying at the end.

Riku was startled from his contemplation of the mysterious object when he saw shapes forming in the corner of his eye. Odd creatures were sprouting up from the ground all around him. Each one was identical to the next, with small black bodies and bulbous yellow eyes. They looked like nothing he had ever seen before, but he just _knew _that they were bad news.

The boy tightened his grip on the key-like object in his hand. He didn't know what it was, but for know, it would work as a makeshift weapon.

_Although... That voice said "Keyblade". Maybe that's what this thing is called?" _For lack of a better name, Riku decided to use that for now.

One of the creatures seemed to grow tired of waiting, and jumped at him. Riku brought the Keyblade up in a slash, catching the shadow in mid-jump. To his surprise, the Keyblade sliced through the monster with almost no resistance, and it vanished.

_Interesting... and useful._ Riku smiled; if it could take these things down so quickly, then getting to Kairi shouldn't be too hard...

And then they could go find Sora, and everything would be ok again.

He began to advance down the bridge. The creatures seemed to take this as a signal to attack en masse, but with the Keyblade in hand, Riku had no trouble hacking apart any of the shadows that leapt at him.

It didn't take long for him to reach the island. When he did, Riku tried to think of where Kairi could be. _She would've gone somewhere safe... Somewhere that she could hide..._

_That's it!_ As soon as he realized where she would've gone, he took off running, once again fending off the creatures of darkness. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to reach his destination.

The minute he stepped into the secret cave, the endless stream of enemies stopped. To Riku, that almost guaranteed that Kairi would be inside. However, he stayed wary, keeping the Keyblade raised in front of him.

He entered the center of the cave, and came to a stop.

The red-haired girl stood unmoving in front of the door at the end of the chamber.

_Kairi... _Riku felt a spark of apprehension. He had opened that door...

Was... was he the one responsible for what had happened? Had he been the one to let those... _things _into their world?

He didn't get much time to contemplate it.

The door, which had only been cracked open before, was blown open. Beyond it, where only the wall of the cavern should have been, was an abyss of darkness that was sending out vicious gales of wind. Kairi went flying forward, limp as a ragdoll, straight toward Riku.

"Kairi!" He yelled in alarm, and dropped the Keyblade. Opening his arms, he tried to catch his friend before she got hurt.

Riku braced himself, but to his shock, when the red-head reached him, her limp body passed straight through him.

He tried to turn around to check on her, but without warning, a wave of dizziness struck him. Against his will, the silver-haired boy dropped to his knees. Darkness swallowed his vision, and he fell to the stone floor, unconscious.


	2. A Whole New World

Well, here's chapter 2. For these first few chapters, I'm just transcribing from what I have written in notebooks. After that's all gone through, updates will take MUCH longer, so I apologize that my chapters are so short. I can only write when I'm feeling motivated AND when I have free time, and those two don't tend to intertwine much. Now that I've actually got this posted on , hopefully I'll be better about writing on a more regular basis.

So, with that, here's chapter two!

* * *

It was dark.

He couldn't sense anything but himself.

He could hear nothing.

He could see nothing.

He could feel nothing, smell nothing, taste nothing (yes, he'd tried).

It was an utter void.

It was dark.

He realized, with a laugh (one that he could neither hear nor feel) that it wasn't cold.

He didn't know where he'd gotten the belief that 'dark' and 'cold' went together, but it apparently wasn't true. He almost wished it was - feeling the cold would be better than _nothing_.

There wasn't much else to think about here - only what he couldn't feel and everything before this non-existence.

It was dark.

He still couldn't believe it had all happened so quickly... They had just built the raft that day, and only gathered the materials the day before that. He and his two friends had been close, had been so excited to try and get to new worlds...

Sure, Sora thought, Riku had been more driven, more eager than he and Kairi had been, but Riku had been the one to come up with the idea of building a raft in the first place. So it was only natural that Riku was the most motivated out of all of them... right?

But Riku had been so insistent on getting off of the islands, as if he _needed _to go to other worlds...

He had talked about an open door, Sora remembered. Had spoken of it and implied that the open door was the reason they could travel to other worlds. But hadn't those monsters shown up that same night...?

Was Riku responsible for what happened? Responsible for the darkness that had been ravaging their world?

...Responsible for the darkness that had brought Sora to this place?

...Sora stopped thinking about it.

...

It was dark.

* * *

The first thing Riku realized was that it was dark.

It took him a few disoriented seconds to realize it was because his eyes were still closed.

Just as he began to open his eyes, he instinctively shut them again as something wet and rough dragged across his face. Spluttering, Riku threw his hands out. They hit something furry.

Opening his eyes, he caught sight of a brown dog bounding around a corner. Scowling, the silver-haired boy muttered, "Stupid mutt," as he pushed himself up to his feet.

He looked around and the scowl faded from his face. The high brick walls and cobblestone floor didn't look like any place he'd been to before, not even in the more populated areas of Destiny Islands.

_Is this... another world? _Riku looked around, and once again saw nothing recognizable. Even the bricks themselves looked different than the ones he'd seen in his home world.

But the happiness he thought he'd feel once reaching the outside world was conspicuously absent.

He'd always thought Sora and Kairi would be with him, all three of them together and-

Wait. Sora and Kairi weren't with him. _Where are they? Are they safe?!_

"Sora?! Kairi!?" Riku yelled as loud as he could up at the small strip of night sky visible between the walls around him.

He listened closely, but no voices called out in response. Riku frowned. It had been a longshot, but he'd hoped that Sora or Kairi were somewhere nearby, where they could've heard him and responded.

_Though if Sora woke up before me, he's probably already out exploring, _Riku thought wryly. The idea of Sora wandering around with his child-like curiosity comforted Riku.

Taking a deep breath, Riku walked down to the end of the alley he had wound up in and turned the corner.

And stopped.

Laid out before him was a city, full of activity. People of all ages were wandering down the streets, their individual conversations blending into a dull roar. Bells rung at irregular intervals as shop doors opened for customers. Glowing signs flickered, hanging high above the heads of those traversing the paths below. Everyone seemed to be friendly with one another, but the hurried movement and weary faces hinted at an underlying current of stress and fear.

Hesitantly, Riku took a step out into the street, but all that happened was the crowd shifted to stream around him. Bolstered by this, the boy began walking slowly down the street, swiveling his head around to take in every detail of his surroundings. He didn't do so because he was curious or awestruck - although he felt both of those - but because he wanted to find his friends.

Riku knew that the odds of finding Sora or Kairi were low, but he couldn't help but see silhouettes of his friends in every shadow and behind every person in the crowd. Every alleyway held the promise of one of his friends laid out the same way he had been, and the silver-haired boy couldn't take the chance that any one place he didn't search was where his friends were.

Shadows shifted in one such alley, and Riku snapped to attention. He could've sworn he saw spikes moving about, and he only knew of one person who had spikes like that.

Filled with a desperate hope, Riku shouted, "Sora, wait!" Even as he did so, he was already sprinting headlong down the narrow passage.

Unlike the alley he had woken up in, there were countless twists and turns in this alley that seemed to never end. Each time he rounded a corner, Riku just barely glimpsed a shadow flitting behind the next corner.

Bursting out of the alleyway, he stopped short. The street he'd come out on was empty, desolate of even the slightest signs of human presence. He slowly turned as he walked out into the road, desperately scanning for his friend.

"Sora?" Riku called out hesitantly. "...Are you there?"

For a moment, there was silence.

"Look out!"

The sudden shout startled the silver-haired boy, and he whipped around to try and find the source of it. As he did so, his feet caught on the cobblestones beneath him, and Riku tumbled to the ground. A dark claw slashed past him, missing Riku's head by inches and passing through the air where he had been less than a second before.

Wasting no time, Riku scrambled to his feet. He heard the soft thump of something landing behind him, but he didn't look to see what had attacked him. He already knew.

_Those creatures from the island... Did they follow me here? _Riku scowled. He knew the Keyblade could kill these things, but the last time, it had just appeared. How was he supposed to summon it -

His vision flashed. Once he could see, he gaped at the sight of the Keyblade once again settled in his grasp. His shock didn't last long, as more of the shadows rose up from the ground and formed in a loose circle around him.

"Back for more of this, huh?" Riku taunted, holding his newly re-acquired weapon out in front of him.

He didn't think that the creatures were capable of understanding human speech, but whether they actually did or were just responding to the Keyblade itself, all of the shadows lunged forward almost at the same time. Riku had partially expected the response, but was taken aback by how quickly and viciously the creatures threw themselves at him.

A single solid strike from his Keyblade was enough to take one of the creatures out, but Riku was barely able to fend off their clawed swipes, much less retaliate. With so many attackers, Riku was constantly moving to dodge or deflect their attacks.

As they relentlessly continued their assault, Riku pushed himself to keep up his defense. He lost track of how long it had been since they'd first attacked, but the few times he did manage to take one out, he saw a new shadow form out of the corner of his eye.

_There's no end to them..._ Riku grit his teeth. He refused to let these things win. He still had to find Sora, and make sure he and Kairi were safe. The Keyblade had come to him, and it seemed to be made to take out these creatures. If so, he'd use it to defeat them and protect Sora and Kairi.

One of the creatures got past his guard and managed to scratch his arm. Riku hissed, and lashed out with the Keyblade. The shadow that had cut him faded away, but the rest took advantage of the distraction and leapt at Riku all at once.

All of a sudden, Riku felt a rush of heat fill his body. It felt like light, in a way that he couldn't compare to anything else. This new energy seemed to lift some weight off of his shoulders, and instinctively Riku knew he could move so much _faster_ than before. He took advantage of this and brought himself up from his vulnerable position, slashing the Keyblade in a massive arc around him. All of the shadows, still lunging through the air, vanished into tendrils of darkness, and even those dissipated quickly.

The energy, the _light_ that had flowed through Riku vanished, and he felt exhaustion set in. Falling down to one knee, Riku gasped for air.

_That... was interesting_.

Standing back up, he held the Keyblade up in front of him. He stared at it closely, a troubled look on his face.

_I don't know where that power came from, but something tells me it was from the Keyblade. But why, and how?_

_And... why does it feel like I've seen it before? _Riku wracked his brain as he let his arm drop back down. When could he possibly have seen this before? Or maybe it wasn't this specifically, but something like it... Something that looked a lot like his Keyblade...

**_"In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."_**

Riku gasped and fell backwards, not bothering to catch himself. That memory... It felt so strong. And it explained why the Keyblade felt familiar - someone must have passed it on to him when he was young... But why would they do so? Why didn't he get it until now?

And why couldn't he remember anything else of it?

"So, you really are the Keyblade wielder." He spun around, raising his Keyblade in preparation for another fight.

What he saw made him freeze in shock, his arm going slack and falling to his side.

The newcomer wore an open black leather jacket, with a white shirt underneath. A silver pendant hung from his neck. Black pants were held up by an array of studded belts. Leather straps circled the man's left arm, and with that hand he held an oddly shaped blade that he rested on his shoulder. A scar crossed his nose diagonally.

But most importantly, the stranger had shoulder-length brown spiky hair. The ends of his hair were spiky. Exactly like the shadowed spikes he had been so desperately chasing after, the ones that had led him to this abandoned street where he had been ambushed by the shadow creatures.

"You..." Anger rushed through Riku, clouding his thoughts until all he could think was that _this man pretended to be Sora and led him into a trap!_

Giving an unintelligible howl of rage, the silver-haired boy rushed the man, bringing his Keyblade up in a brutal double-handed slash. Taken aback, the newcomer brought his blade down and blocked the blow. Riku noted with vicious glee that the man was pushed back by his attack.

Bringing his other hand to grip his weapon, the scarred man scowled. "And just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think?!" Riku growled. "You led me into this ambush, and you have the nerve to ask me why I'm retaliating?" With that, the Keyblade wielder threw himself at his enemy again, trying to find a weak point.

The other man didn't seem to have any, and easily shifted his weapon to block every blow Riku rained down upon him. "Really? You think I set you up? ...Heh. Just when I thought the Keyblade chose right." Riku subconsciously filed that away - apparently, it really WAS called the Keyblade. "But it turns out that whatever it saw must be buried deep down. You're nothing but a brat. Now, I'm gonna need that Keyblade, so you're gonna have to take a nap now, kid."

"If you think I'm just gonna hand this over to you, you're dead wrong!" His attacks increased in fervor, and the other man frowned. He was actually having to work to block this kid's attacks...!

"Time to end this." When Riku attacked again, the other man deflected his attack to the side, sending the boy off balance. He attempted to bring his weapon around to knock the boy out with the butt of the grip, but was surprised when the Keyblade wielder threw himself into a roll instead of try to regain his balance.

This surprise cost him when Riku came out of his roll and swung the Keyblade at the man's legs. Grunting, the stranger was forced to his knees by the attack. Following up on his opponent's vulnerable position, Riku slammed his weapon into the man's back. The man grunted in pain again, but slashed his weapon backward at Riku. The attack itself was awkward and ineffective, but it forced Riku to jump back and halt his assault on the stranger.

The silver-haired boy tried to rush back in and continue attacking, but his opponent had taken advantage of the respite and regained his feet. Once again, every slash that Riku made was easily blocked. Unlike before, however, Riku had a plan beyond 'attack'; he'd been able to calm himself down some, and was actually thinking instead of blindly attacking.

Just as the other man seemed to fall into the pattern of constantly blocking his attacks, Riku feinted. Going in for a swing, the boy instead ducked low and once again went for the brunette's legs, this time body checking them. Once again, the stranger was thrown off-balance and fell. This time, however, when Riku went in for a strike, the man brought up his weapon and was able to block from his position on the ground. Startled by this, Riku held his attack a moment too long, and his opponent took advantage of this. He used his weapon to knock the Keyblade out of Riku's hands, and brought the hilt of his weapon up to knock Riku out.

This time, he didn't miss.

Riku collapsed to the ground, straining to remain conscious. As his vision began to blacken, he heard another new voice say, "You're slipping, Leon~!"

"I was _trying _not to hurt him. My weapon isn't exactly made for non-lethal fights."

"Still! For a little kid to wear you out?"

"He's had some training. Probably self-taught, but he's not useless with that thing. But still...

"Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse..."

He lost the fight, and gave in to the welcoming darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Also, I would like to point out one thing - yes, I am making it so that the Keyblade is nothing more than what it looks like when used on another human. Don't worry, I will have a way around this when it is necessary for Riku to fight someone who isn't a Heartless but is still his enemy.

Having said that, please review! Your reviews are a big part of my motivation to write this!


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